Extreme Measures
In The Final Chapter In the Section 31 and Julian Bashir ' |image= |series= |production=40510-573 |producer(s)= |story= |script=David Weddle and Bradley Thompson |director=Steve Posey |imdbref=tt0708535 |guests=William Sadler as Luther Sloan, Andrew J. Robinson as Elim Garak, Jacqueline Schultz as Jessica Sloan, Kate Asner as Nurse Bandee, Tom Holleron as Operative |previous_production=Tacking Into the Wind |next_production=The Dogs of War |episode=DS9 S07E23 |airdate=19 May 1999 |previous_release=(DS9) Tacking Into the Wind (Overall) Warhead |next_release=(DS9) The Dogs of War (Overall) Equinox |story_date(s)=52645.7 (2375) |previous_story=Juggernaut |next_story=Someone to Watch Over Me }} Summary Sloan shows up in Julian Bashir's quarters, baited by the fake announcement of a cure to the changelings' plague. When Sloan sees no way to get out of Bashir's interrogation, he kills himself. Bashir, with Miles O'Brien, use a multitronic engrammatic interpreter to infiltrate Sloan's mind, but Bashir is quick to warn O'Brien that they only have a short time to find the information they seek – when Sloan's brain shuts down, they'll die with him if they're still connected. Upon entering Sloan's mind, they are immediately greeted by his subconscious, which is more than willing to help them, but is prevented by Sloan's higher brain functions from speaking it out loud. After a meeting with his 'family', in which Sloan apologizes to his family for not being there when they needed him most, a different version of Sloan enters the room, destroys it, and informs Bashir and O'Brien that they can't have the information. Sloan has created a scenario that leads the two to believe that they are forced to exit Sloan's mind. The scenario includes their believing that Sloan has died. When Bashir sits down in his quarters to read, he discovers that his book ends exactly where he stopped reading the previous night – and then starts over from the beginning on the next page. Deducing that they're still in Sloan's mind and fell for a stalling tactic, the two return to Sloan's mind and eventually find him in his office, which is filled with secret data about Section 31. Sloan baits Bashir with the information in his mind – information that would allow Bashir to dismantle Section 31 once and for all. With seconds left before Sloan's brain shuts down, O'Brien recognizes the trap and tells Bashir to get them out of Sloan's mind. Having obtained the chemical formula for the cure, Bashir administers the drug to Odo. Aside from some brief discomfort, Odo is completely cured. Errors and Explanations Nit Central # Kathryn Bennett on Wednesday, May 19, 1999 - 11:46 pm: I don't think Bashir literally brought anything back from Sloan's mind, I think he just read the cure off the padd and then he knew it in his own memory. I think it would have taken a long time for Bashir to memorize all of Section 31's secrets! Slinky Frog on Thursday, May 20, 1999 - 7:52 pm: Remember, he is said that genetically enhanced people do things faster! ' # ''Anonymous on Friday, May 21, 1999 - 9:44 pm: Wouldn't it have been simpler just to get a Vulcan to do a mind meld with Sloan? ''Chris Ashley on Saturday, May 22, 1999 - 4:35 pm:'' We haven't seen too many sympathetic Vulcans on DS9; probably whoever they'd find would say it was illogical to take such a risk over one crew member. Joshua Truax on Sunday, May 23, 1999 - 8:45 pm:''About using a Vulcan to mind-meld with Sloan: Remember, what O'Brien and Bashir are doing is both legally and ethically questionable, not to mention quite dangerous, so they're probably not willing to ask anyone else to get involved. (What would have happened to the Vulcan if Sloan had died during such a mind-meld?) ''Marian Perera on Sunday, May 23, 1999 - 10:46 pm: The Vulcan goes to Sha-Ka-Ree, and spends the rest of eternity playing kal-toh and discussing logic with Sybok. Seniram 15:25, November 28, 2017 (UTC) What about the potential risks to the Vulcan, as implied by the EMH when Tuvok proposed mind melding with Tom Paris during the punishment cycle in Ex Post Facto?' # ''Shane Tourtellotte on Saturday, May 22, 1999 - 6:15 pm: How did Bashir places those mindprobes on Sloan's forehead without disturbing the forcefield around him? We saw it in evidence both before and after this part of the scene. Mark Morgan on Saturday, May 22, 1999 - 10:56 pm: The containment field could have been just around the part of Sloan's body below the neck - similar to the restraints around the future Picard in Time Squared. # How would Bashir know that Odo's cure is going to be painful? Did he test it on another Founder first? If so--egad--Section 31 was right after all. He's a traitor to the Federation! ;-) More likely Bashir knows that the disease has made Odo more susceptible to pain and discomfort. # Mark Morgan on Saturday, May 22, 1999 - 10:56 pm: Hey, Julian and Miles now know Sloan's first name, his whole family, and what they all look like. Could they use this information to uncover Section 31? Not really – Section 31 would have created lots of false trails to cover their tracks. # Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, May 23, 1999 - 5:12 am: Why did Odo retain his Humanoid shape instead of reverting to goo? The disease is impairing his ability to shapeshift. # When Bashir held up the memory scanners, the lights were blinking. Isn't that a sign that they are working? Would that mean that they were scanning Bashir's mind while he held them? Maybe this is to show they are powered up. # If the cure is simple nucleotide markers, then why haven't the Vorta doctors figured it out yet? (Or have they? Hmmm, maybe like Kirk in Who Mourns for Adonais?, they've decided that they no longer need gods?) Maybe they assume anything that simple couldn’t possibly work! # Nice Sloane has the PADD with the cure, but Nasty Sloane shoots him and says he can't let Bashir have it just yet, so why didn't Nasty Sloane shoot the PADD instead? O'Brien & Bashir don't even look to see if the PADD is lying on the floor. (Yes, I know this all happened in Sloane's mind, but I think Bashir & O'Brien should have reacted like they were in the real world and at least looked.) They must have known it had vanished when Nasty Slone shot Nice Slone, as there was no sound of it hitting the floor. # MikeC on Sunday, May 23, 1999 - 5:25 pm: I still find it hard to believe that Section 31 sends one of its most key operatives out to check on what may be just a wild goose chase. Robert P. Smith on Monday, May 24, 1999 - 11:52 am: I just figured they would send Sloan since he is familiar with the genetically enhanced Bashir. For something so Serious as this you wouldn’t send an unfamiliar agent. # Lisa Shock on Monday, May 24, 1999 - 1:05 am: I wonder why Bashir didn't put Odo into stasis until a cure could be found? That could have made the situation worse. # Mark Bowman on Monday, May 24, 1999 - 8:29 pm: I assume Slone was being beamed from a cloaked ship. How do they avoid being detected (I assume they have to uncloak to transport). They just better hope the Romulans don't find out about this! Keith Alan Morgan on Tuesday, May 25, 1999 - 3:47 am: Remember Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges? Section 31 has the head of the Tal Shiar in their pocket, so I don't think it would be too hard to get a cloaking device. However, since they probably have a Federation ship, they could easily blend in with the other Federation ships coming and going from DS9 with no need to cloak. # Mark Wells on Friday, May 28, 1999 - 4:27 am: I'm not sure if this really belongs here, but it's Section-31-oriented, so here it is: Sloane originally said Section 31 was part of the Starfleet Charter. In that case, why does Bashir have so much trouble demonstrating that there really is a Section 31? Has it occurred to anyone to pull out a copy of the Starfleet Charter and look for a reference to Section 31? If Section 31 is named in the Starfleet Charter, which is obviously a publicly available document, how does it stay secret? I mean, the CIA and the Secret Service were created by acts of Congress that most people haven't even read, and everyone still knows they exist and has a rough idea of what they do. Section 31 is presented as a total surprise to everyone: not "Section 31 thinks you're a Dominion spy?", but "There's a Section 31? What's Section 31?" Apparently these Starfleet people have never gotten around to reading the Starfleet Charter. This makes no sense. Spockania on Friday, May 28, 1999 - 8:02 pm: Interesting point, Mark. Especially since the relevant passage must be in Section 31 of the charter. So it's not like it's hard to reference. Anonymous on Saturday, May 29, 1999 - 11:18 am: Sloan could have been lying about Section 31 being in the Federation Charter. Alteratively, the creation of Section 31 could have been part of a general defense/security provision, comparable to the U.S. Constitution's provisions establishing the U.S. Army and Navy. Mark Wells on Monday, May 31, 1999 - 7:42 pm: Sloane pretty clearly said that Section 31 was defined in the original Starfleet charter. Anyway, if it was created under a general security/defense provision, it would most likely need to be reviewed (at least for budget purposes) at some point. This wouldn't necessarily mean that anyone would review what Section 31 is doing. (In the U.S., the CIA and the NSA conduct various operations that they don't have to tell anyone about. When Congress considers their budget, the spooks just say "Sorry, we can't tell you what the money's for, we just need twenty billion dollars this year.") What I just don't buy is that high-ranking Starfleet officers (such as Sisko) don't know that Section 31 exists at all. The creators shouldn't have had Sloane claim that Section 31 is defined in the Starfleet charter. It would be more believable for him to say that they're part of (for example) Starfleet Intelligence, they're funding is tucked away in Starfleet Intelligence's budget, and thus there are a few layers of bureaucrats between Starfleet's regular officers and Section 31 to deny their existence as necessary. So everyone in Starfleet (and just about everyone in the Federation) knows about Starfleet Intelligence, but Section 31 is a *department* of Starfleet Intelligence that's unknown to outsiders. Charles Cabe (Ccabe) on Tuesday, June 01, 1999 - 10:22 am: Hold it a second! S31 dosen't have a budget. Neither does Starfleet ot the Federation. Kirk and Picard said that money dosen't exist in the 23rd and 24th centuries. Mark Wells on Wednesday, June 02, 1999 - 12:41 am: Picard is wrong. Money *does* exist in the 24th Century. Just ask the Ferengi. The Federation doesn't use money internally. They apparently have such an abundance of resources that the principle of scarcity doesn't apply, so there's no reason to expect exchanges of goods when you can walk down to the replicator and get all the goods you want. They would still need money of some kind to trade with other civilizations. In any case, even though the Federation doesn't use money, they seem quite accustomed to barter. Maybe high-speed communication and transportation undermine the barriers to barter that required money to be invented in the first place: when you can fire up the subspace transceiver and make a deal with someone on the other side of the planet and then beam goods back and forth at will, the entire economy can function on a barter basis. Maybe *that's* why the Federation doesn't use money. This doesn't change the reality that Section 31 needs a budget. They have operating expenses. They have to do maintenance on their ships. They have to buy illegal Romulan mind probes. They probably need some actual money, for bribing the Ferengi, the Romulans, the Klingons, the Vorta, the Orion Syndicate, and anyone else that needs to be bribed. Their budget may not be measured in terms of money, but it does exist. Lea Frost on Saturday, November 06, 1999 - 10:38 am: Bribing the Vorta probably wouldn't work, as evidenced by Iggy Pop's character's comment in "The Magnificent Ferengi" that "We have no use for latinum," or something along those lines. And another observation: Starfleet also has to maintain a rather generous slush fund for its officers' bar tabs! How do you think Miles and Julian can spend so much time at Quark's? :-) Mark Wells on Saturday, November 06, 1999 - 12:32 pm: OK, maybe not the Vorta. They're probably genetically engineered to be impossible to bribe. But I don't quite buy Iggy Pop's statement that the Vorta have no use for latinum. *They* might need to bribe someone with it. They've hired the Orion Syndicate to do their dirty work, remember? Nove Rockhoomer on Tuesday, February 01, 2005 - 2:35 pm: Maybe Section 31 was included in a confidential corollary to the charter that was never publicly revealed. The corollary itself could have been referenced in the main charter in very general terms. # joe Pintar on Monday, May 31, 1999 - 11:34 am:''I question Bashir's blatant disregard of medical ethics in this episode. He kills Sloan so that Odo may live. As a doctor, he should know that is never acceptable. What's worse is that Captain Sisko seemed to have approved of his actions. Knowing Sisko, he would have had Bashir court martialed for his conduct here. 'Shirlyn Wong on Monday, May 31, 1999 - 12:12 pm: Joe, Bashir didn't kill Sloan. He just wanted to use the mind probes to get the cure out of him. It was Sloan who committed suicide by activating some device inside him. What I don't understand is why (w/ Julian's genetically enhanced brain) our dear doctor didn't deactivate that thing before Sloan woke up. He must've known S31 operatives have such implants. Sloppy ain't he? But then if he did that then we would've had a very short show (and no need for Jules and Miles to go into Luther's head). Seniram 15:25, November 28, 2017 (UTC) It may not have been possible for Bashir to locate or deactivate Slone’s suicide device. (I wonder if it’s anything like a Vorta termination implant?)' # ''blackestnight on Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - 11:08 pm: The season finale was probably written by the time this episode aired but I had a less life-costly solution to this war. We offer the Dominion the cure for the Founders in exchange for unconditional surrender. I realize it's a bit late but I'm just catching up with this wonderful series and I just found this website yesterday. I wish Phil (et al) would write a book with the remaining seasons… John-Boy on Monday, May 09, 2005 - 4:46 pm: I doubt the Founders would have went for that, they were willing to just keep fighting until Odo linked with the female founder and convinced her that the Alpha Quadrent aliens wern't a threat to them in What You Leave Behind. Nove Rockhoomer on Saturday, May 14, 2005 - 11:01 am: They might have changed their minds if they knew the Federation had a cure, though. As far as I remember, they didn't know. If they knew they had a chance to live, they might prefer that over winning a war, then possibly dying from the disease. Notes Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine